Although the fledgling foundry did not say why the former head of AMD
and its first Chairman, Hector Ruiz was leaving the company on a
‘voluntary leave of absence effective immediately,’ Ruiz was to have
stood down in his role in January, 2010. An interim Chairman, Alan Ross
will take over the role at GlobalFoundries until a permanent Chairman has been appointed
by the board. Ross, the former CEO of Broadcom was a current board
member.

The mainstream press had connected the departure of Ruiz with reports that an insider trading case under investigation in the U.S. is connected to AMD and potentially Ruiz, though not named in the proceedings.

His current replacement, Ross also served in high-level executive positions with Rockwell Automation, National Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor and the Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation.